If France decides to join the United States in a strike against Syria, it would be the first time American and French forces have conducted a joint military operation since the Siege of Yorktown at the end of the American Revolutionary War.

3 Somerville teens charged with alleged sexual assault WHDH-TV SOMERVILLE, Mass. (WHDH) -- Police arrested three Somerville High juniors late Friday afternoon on charges of allegedly sexually assaulting three freshmen males. Two juveniles were arrested in addition to 17-year-old Galileo Mondol, who was arrested at ... and more »

tastefullyoffensive:

[v3rmillion]

showslow:

Arman “Long Term Parking”, 1982, Dimensions: 1950 cm, Description : Accumulation of 60 automobiles in concrete. 19,5 m. Parc de sculpture Le Montcel, Jouy-en-Josas, France (x)

Dave_Minsky writes "The small indigenous village of Villa Talea de Castro (pop. 2,500) in the state of Oaxaca is showing the world that it doesn't have to rely on major cellular telecommunications providers for service. With the help from indigenous groups, civil organizations and universities, village residents put up an antenna on a rooftop, installed radio and computer equipment, and created its own micro provider called Red Celular de Talea. Service costs only 15 pesos ($1.2) per month and a few pennies per minute to make calls to the United States. However, there is one catch: calls are limited to a maximum of five minutes to prevent saturation of lines."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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You yearn for the sea life, but life on ship might not be exactly what you want. Then why not create your own country on an abandoned sea fort or oil rig? That's what these people have done.

Read more...

“a couple months on the couch while you figure things out won’t do you wrong” -...

The Guardian

Justice Department talks with Microsoft and Google stall Reuters By Alina Selyukh. WASHINGTON | Sat Aug 31, 2013 3:56am IST. WASHINGTON Aug 30 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Justice's talks with Microsoft Corp and Google Inc have hit a wall as the government pushes back at the tech companies' demand for ... Microsoft Pressing Ahead with Lawsuit on US Spying OrdersWall Street Journal Google, Microsoft Press Lawsuits for Right to Release More Surveillance DataWired Microsoft says the government's transparency report isn't enough. Here's why.Washington Post (blog) The Verge -GigaOM -Android Community all 132 news articles »

The controversial "badger cull" in England has begun. And Queen's Brian May is one animal lover who isn't too happy about the country's plan to protect cows by killing badgers, who carry deadly bovine tuberculosis. May remixed some Queen songs, wrote new badger-friendly lyrics, and is burning up the iTunes charts.

Read more...

New York Times

Liz Cheney: 'I am not pro-gay marriage' Politico Wyoming Senate hopeful Liz Cheney said flatly on Friday that she is “not pro-gay marriage.” Cheney, who is mounting a Republican primary challenge to Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), made the remark in a statement, which is posted on her website. Her sister ... Cheney family fights over same-sex marriageMSNBC NOM's Brian Brown Questions Liz Cheney's Claim She's Not 'Pro-Gay Marriage'On Top Magazine Liz Cheney: 'Not Pro-Gay Marriage'Advocate.com Live 5 News -allvoices all 72 news articles »

fingeronthepulseofmysoul:

batchix:

comeunbraced:

i’m not a gamer, but this is some important shit

this is why i won’t play on-line games.

I feel very lucky to have the friends I do in WoW. Its VERY rare to find people that will even be okay with this. 

The Miley Cyrus twerking episode actually says a lot about culture unfortunately.

Sculpt Ergonomic Keyboard shown with other objects for scale and subtle evidence that I’m productive and/or hip. And that I own a 1-kilogram tungsten cylinder. And that I’m out of coffee. I should get more.

When the new Microsoft Sculpt Ergonomic Desktop was announced, I preordered one immediately: as a huge fan of its ancient predecessor, the Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000, I knew it had promise.

The 4000’s biggest flaws are its mushy membrane keys and its tremendous size, which forces right-handed mousers to keep their mice too far away. It also never had a usable wireless version. And it’s cheap-feeling and ugly as sin by today’s standards, but keep in mind that it’s 8 years old — it was designed when PCs looked like this.

Despite its flaws, the 4000 is a good keyboard overall for four reasons that have always made it stand out from other ergonomic keyboards: it has a standard key layout, it’s available in brick-and-mortar stores for easy tryouts and returns, it’s very comfortable, and it’s very cheap.

I was hoping the Sculpt would be a worthy successor that also fixed some of the 4000’s shortcomings.

Note: The Sculpt Ergonomic Desktop also includes a goofy mouse, but I won’t be using it, so this is solely a review of the keyboard. I also didn’t (and won’t) install any of Microsoft’s software on my Mac — I never had problems with the 4000’s Mac software, but the Sculpt works well enough for me without any, so why install it? Just go into System Preferences, Keyboard, Modifier Keys and swap Command and Option.

Microsoft has learned some packaging design from Apple: you’re greeted with the product facing you nicely, rather than stuffing it upside-down in a plastic bag. But it’s surrounded by cheap, rough-edged cardboard, and unpacking is not obvious. I had to read the instructions to find out where the USB RF transceiver was. (Spoiler: It’s in the mouse’s battery compartment.)

Last year, after using the 4000 for six years but wanting something smaller with less-mushy keys, I bought the Kinesis Freestyle2 for Mac (with the “VIP3” feet). It’s decent, but not great: the split design easily scoots around and loses your set position, the key layout is subtly different enough to have a moderate learning curve, it’s even uglier than the 4000, and it’s a bit expensive for a wired keyboard. It is indeed smaller and with better-feeling keys than the 4000, but I wouldn’t confidently recommend it unless you need its flexibility to be in a radically different shape.

Top to bottom: my gross old Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000, the new Sculpt Ergonomic Desktop, and my 10-month-old Kinesis Freestyle 2 for Mac.

The Sculpt Ergonomic Desktop’s keyboard is the best-looking ergonomic keyboard I’ve ever seen. (Kinesis keyboards look like medical equipment.¹) Even Microsoft’s logo is small and tasteful. The chunky plastic and fake-metal accents are gone. The useless “Zoom” wheel and redundant back/forward buttons are gone. The gigantic numeric keypad is gone. And the ugly gray media keys are now integrated into the smaller F1–F12 keys.

The Sculpt attacks the 4000’s biggest shortcomings head-on:

• It’s much smaller in every dimension, yet retains a full-sized, almost-standard desktop key layout minus the numeric keypad. (The Home/End block is rearranged to save space, but that won’t bother most people.)
• The mushy membrane keys have been replaced with laptop-style scissor keys.

It’s wireless via a tiny custom USB dongle, not Bluetooth. In theory, this should lead to better battery life than Bluetooth, but I haven’t burned through a set yet to find out. So far, I’ve had none of the missed- or repeated-key problems that I had with the old wireless edition of the 4000 (the “Natural Ergonomic Desktop 7000”).

Unlike most “tenkeyless” keyboards, you still get a numeric keypad — it’s just a separate, wireless module now, so you can put it somewhere else (the left side, a drawer, New Jersey) and keep your mouse closer to your right hand.

Ergonomically, it seems roughly equivalent to the 4000: if you found that one comfortable, there’s a good chance you’ll like this one, too. The general shape and magnitude of the curve is similar, but a bit shorter.

Left to right: Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000, Sculpt Ergonomic Desktop, Kinesis Freestyle 2 for Mac. (These keyboards need shorter names.) The Kinesis can also be configured in many other ways.

The 4000’s ergonomically terrible rear prop-up feet are fortunately gone from the Sculpt Ergonomic. The optional stand for the front edge remains (though shorter) with a nice upgrade: rather than inelegantly snapping into the keyboard, two tabs on the stand now attach magnetically into dedicated slots. The magnets and slot design seem strong enough to avoid accidental detachment during any reasonable use.

The magnetic stand is yet another nice touch adding to the Sculpt Ergonomic’s huge quality improvement over the 4000. Overall, I wouldn’t call it Apple-quality, but it’s very close.

When I saw that the 4000’s successor was getting scissor keys, I was worried. What I really want is an ergonomic keyboard with the Sculpt’s layout and general shape, but with nice Cherry mechanical keyswitches.² Unfortunately, that doesn’t exist,³ and I don’t know how to design, manufacture, and sell a custom keyboard myself. (Hey Jeff…) Plus, I’d be too scared of accidentally infringing someone else’s patents — making originally designed hardware these days just doesn’t seem worth the risk. (Because patents foster innovation.)

The scissor keys are quite good, though, as scissor keys go. Fans of Cherry or Model M keys will probably still hate them, but they’re a huge improvement from the 4000’s mushfest. They’re even slightly more firm and clicky than the current MacBook Pro keyboards, but at the same approximate volume, and not so firm that I’d call them stubborn. I think Microsoft has struck a very good balance with these keys.

I’ll need a much longer time with the keyboard to form a long-term opinion on the keys, but so far, they seem very good — they’re the best-feeling keys I’ve ever used that weren’t loud Cherry keyswitches. They have better spring-back feedback than both Kinesis’ light-touch membrane keys and the louder Cherry MX “brown” switches in my Filco Majestouch-2.⁴

The Escape and F1–F12 keys are a step backwards, unfortunately. They’re now little clicky buttons rather than keys with feedback, so if you hit them a lot and aren’t willing or able to change that, I don’t recommend this keyboard for you. The media/function toggle mechanism is also unusual: rather than have an “Fn” key⁵ like civilized people, the Sculpt Ergonomic uses a little Fn switch in the upper-right. In Fn mode, the media functions are disabled and the top row behaves as standard F1–F12 keys.

That isn’t barrel distortion — there just aren’t a lot of straight lines on this keyboard.

Without any software installed, only a few of the “media” features work on Macs anyway (Play/Pause, Mute, Volume Down/Up), and it’s annoying to toggle the Fn switch every time I want to press F11 (Show Desktop on Macs), so I’ve worked around this by simply keeping the switch in Fn mode all the time and using Sizzling Keys to map a handful of the F-keys to the lost media functions.

With every new keyboard, there’s a learning curve. Switching from a regular keyboard to the old 4000 wasn’t very hard for me — when moving to a split layout, you’ll need to re-learn how to hit any keys near the middle that you hit with the wrong hand (for me, “T” was the only one), but otherwise it’s not meaningfully different from a regular keyboard.

I had a long period of inaccuracy with the Kinesis, especially in the Enter/Backspace area where it has unusal spacing. But the Sculpt Ergonomic was very easy to adapt to — I was typing at full speed with very few errors in about a day.

Bottom line: The Sculpt Ergonomic Desktop keyboard is great. It’s my new favorite and primary keyboard, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it kept that crown for the next 8 years.

There’s currently no way to buy the keyboard without the mouse, but I’ll stick a link here if that changes. You don’t need to actually use the mouse or keep it anywhere nearby. I’ve never turned mine on and it works fine without it.

If you already use a split-ergonomic keyboard, especially the similarly curved Microsoft Natural 4000, it’s a huge upgrade that I feel comfortable recommending nearly unconditionally, as long as you don’t use the F1–F12 or Escape keys constantly. (I do use Escape a lot, but the keyboard’s so good otherwise that I’m tolerating it.) If you’re comfortable on the 4000, I bet you’ll be comfortable on the Sculpt Ergonomic.

Buy it from this link and I’ll get a small commission. Stock’s been spotty but replenishing frequently, so if it’s out of stock, check again tomorrow.

If you’re not yet using a split-ergonomic keyboard but you’re curious about it, I do recommend trying it, especially if you ever get wrist soreness. I can’t promise that it will fix any particular problem you have, but it fixed mine.

The Army’s Deputy of Cybersecurity admitted that a security failure can allow unauthorized access to computer files. Instead of fixing it, they are telling soldiers to be more careful.

As part of what was generally not a good night for performers who have generally tumultuous relationships with live audiences, Fiona Apple halted her Thursday concert in Tokyo, after becoming enraged by a crowd that refused to stop talking over her set. Apple’s set was at a fashion party thrown by Louis Vuitton (hence the report hailing from Women’s Wear Daily) where Apple—apparently in disbelief that a crowd composed of wealthy socialites, who flew to Tokyo to party at the behest of a luxury brand, would be so arrogantly self-involved—repeatedly called for silence, to no avail.

At one point, Apple even climbed atop her piano and “challenged everyone to be silent for the duration of a tone she created by striking a small metal bell,” which somehow proved ineffective. She then urged the “rude” crowd to “shut the fuck up,” before finally storming off while exclaiming ...

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Hugh Howey's Silo saga has taken the bestseller lists by storm — but before Wool was a worldwide sensation, it was a humble series on Amazon, gaining popularity one online fan at a time. Now, Howey's stories have spawned a new kind of fanfic community that could change the publishing world.

Read more...

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will become the first Supreme Court member to conduct a same-sex marriage ceremony Saturday when she officiates at the Washington wedding of Kennedy Center President Michael M. Kaiser.

gastropost:

From Gastroposter Emily Dyer, via Instagram:

Nom food schwartz’s

Oh God, it’s been too long.

Poster to promote a new "charcoal donut" featured Thailand chief executive's daughter in "blackface" make-up.

Underground Toys has created an officially licensed Doctor Who Mr. Potato Head toy based on the Eleventh Doctor played by Matt Smith. The toy currently available to purchase from the BBC America Shop and Amazon.

The Eleventh Doctor as played by “MASH” Smith! Hop in the TARDIS with Mr. Potato Head as he pays homage to the last known survivor of “Galli-Fry”, DOCTOR WHO in his quirky eleventh incarnation! Set comes complete with 8 removable parts and pieces.

via Toy News International, io9

Colonel Meow, a Himalayan Persian cat who lives in Los Angeles, California, has set a Guinness World Record for “cat with the longest fur.” Three independent vets measured his fur at an average of 22.89 centimeters, or nine inches. Colonel Meow’s new record will be featured in the Guinness World Records 2014 book, which is set to release on September 12th. “We already knew that he was the best cat in the world, but to be recognised in the Guinness World Records book takes it to the next level,” Colonel Meow’s owner Anne Marie Avey said.

photo and video via Guinness World Records

via LAist, Neatorama

“Shine” rolling papers are thin sheets of real gold you can use to smoke weed, if you have $60.

The Instax Mini 90 Neo Classic is an instant camera by Fujifilm that will be offered as part of their Instax line. It’s beautifully styled to look retro and uses their proprietary mini instant film. It’s currently scheduled to release in Japan in September. No word when it will be available in the U.S.

via Gizmodo

djempirical

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- A popular Valley cartoonist is set to be honored at a Scottsdale park.

The City of Scottsdale has announced that a statue of the late Bil Keane will be dedicated on Nov. 8 at the McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park near Scottsdale and Indian Bend roads.

The 9-by-7-foot statue, which will be titled “Gitty-up Daddy,” will be the centerpiece of a 36-foot-wide covered pavilion. A potential museum that would be located in the Maricopa Depot is also in the discussion phase.

“I think the park is a perfect fit for the Keane statue and pavilion,” said Scottsdale Mayor Jim Lane. “Scottsdale is a family-focused community and Bil Keane’s humor celebrated the magic of family through the unique perspectives of both children and parents.”

Keane’s cartoon “The Family Circus” was syndicated in approximately 1,500 newspapers around the world.

Keane lived in Paradise Valley before passing away in 2011.

His statue and the pavilion are being paid for with donations from the public and the Keane family. The project is expected to cost $100,000.

Original Source

From Matt Delbridge, Inject Design, and FullFill

A triple macchiato of coffee-house identities with work from New York, New Zealand, and Jakarta.

The Daily Press by Matt Delbridge

New York-based Matt Delbridge makes his second appearance in a row on Friday Likes with a very nice identity for a coffee shop, Daily Press, in the most hipster neighborhood in Brooklyn at the moment, Bed-Stuy. Appropriately, the look is a mix of Victorian typography and ornamentation with a requisite hipster vibe, resulting in a positively Brooklynesque identity. My favorite part of this project is what seems to be the full range of explorations shown on the left image above. That would make for a great wallpaper. See full project.

Gentlemen's Beans by Inject Design

Located in Wellington, New Zealand, Gentlemen's Beans is a boutique coffee shop featuring micro roasting and burly identity designed by local firm Inject Design. The identity consists of three main elements: (1) a woodcut of a man resting on some coffee bean sacks, which is my least favorite part; (2) some very nice, hand-drawn typography sitting on a curve, where the length of "GENTLEMEN'S" really helps it lay nicely and its wobbliness looks great blown up as a sign; and (3) my favorite, the use of the color copper, it just looks hot. Like the beverage inside it is meant to be. See full project.

Koultoura Coffee by FullFill

For Koultura Coffee, a new independent coffee shop in West Jakarta, local firm FullFill created modest identity in terms of logo and typography but what got my attention was the introduction of four characters — a fox, a bear, a cat, and a rabbit — that take on a number of different aesthetic styles, from minimalist vectors to painterly portraits, to tie everything together inside the shop, help tell its story, and get local customers informed about coffee. Not a typical solution and not necessarily the most graphic of Friday Likes but definitely an interesting approach. See full project.

Okay, so it may not be the big deal that San Diego Comic Con is, but The Mary Sue's biggest hometown con, New York Comic Con, has a special place in our hearts. It's also approaching with a speed that has caused only a few moments of panic so far (stay tuned in the next few weeks for info on our meetup and our panel), and with an approaching con comes the shipping of badges. NYCC has a new trick up its sleeve to combat both overcrowding and counterfeit or scalped badges (notorious problems for the event): RFID tags. They're also planning on using the badges to monitor traffic flow. In other words, if having your location within the Javits Center tracked creeps you out, you might want to read the instructions that come with your badge very carefully.

~David Riesman